Apparatus for cleaning road surfaces



ll. F 5

T. HARRIS ET AL 2,684,558

APPARATUS FOR CLEANING ROAD SURFACES July 27, 1954 Filed June 25, 1952 i ER IN V EN TORS. v Thomas Harxzz's ATTORNEYS.

Patented July 27, 1954 APPARATUS FOR CLEANING RQAD SURFACES Thomas Harris and Charles C. Plumb, Warwick, R. I.

Application June 25, 1952, Serial No. 295,462

9 Claims.

This invention relates to a method and appa ratus for cleaning road surfaces, particularly for removing oil, grease, and gasoline deposits from road surfaces.

The accumulation of oil, grease, and gasoline deposits on road surfaces resulting from the droppings of motor vehicles, particularly at stop intersections, clover-leaf turn-outs, bridges, and other places where traffic is slowed down and is most congested, makes a highway hazard, particularly when such deposits are wet, which is the cause of many serious accidents, many of which result in death. Such oil, grease, and like deposits become imbedded in the road surface and are not efficiently removed by the usual road flushing and sweeping.

An object of the invention is to provide for the quick and eiilcient removal of oil, grease, and the like deposits from road surfaces.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide for the removal of oil, grease, and the like deposits from road surfaces by a cutting action thereon.

Another object of the invention is to provide for the removal of oil, grease, and the like deposits from road surfaces by directing an abrasive stream thereon at an angle to the road surface, which will have a tendency to cut and raise the said deposits from the road surface.

Another object or" the invention is to provide an apparatus operable for the removal of oil, grease, and like deposits from road surfaces.

Another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus of the above character having a plurality of cleaning jets controllable from a common location readily accessible to the operator of the apparatus.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists of certain novel features of construction as will be more fully described and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a road cleaning apparatus embodying one form of the invention; and

Figure 2 is a plan View of a portion of the apparatus shown in Figure 1 looking thereon in the direction of the arrows on line 2-2 of Figure 1.

In carrying out our invention, we provide for the removal of oil, grease, and the like deposits from road surfaces by a cutting action such as by the use of a sand blasting action thereon. The sand blasting stream is directed on the area to be cleaned at such an angle to the road surface as to tend to cut and raise the contaminant from the road surface and direct it and the spent abrasive to a supply for reuse if conditions are such as to permit reuse of the abrasive. The angle at which the abrasive stream is directed on the deposits will depend upon the type of road surface, a concrete road surface requiring a different angle of attack than a black top or rubber composition road surface. The sand blast may consist of the usual air under pressure, or may employ steam as the abrasive carrier when conditions and locations are found to be favor able for such type of sand blasting. The method above outlined may be practiced by the use of an apparatus which may be moved over the area to be cleaned and having the necessary paraphernalia required for providing the sand blasting stream.

An apparatus particularly adapted for the carrying out of the above method may take the form of a self-propelled vehicle designated generally Is and shown very conventionally in the drawings and which may be of any weli-known manufacture, that shown being the usual socalled truck vehicle with the body removed therefrom. The vehicle has the usual wheels ii on which is supported a chassis or frame i2 on the front portion of which is mounted the usual motor housing including the hood it which encloses the vehicle engine. The fuel supply or gasoline tank is may be mounted on the rear portion of the chassis at the location shown. It will be understood Without further description that the vehicle It is to have all the necessary usual parts and controls, not shown, necessary to provide the proper operation of the vehicle.

Mounted on the chassis i 2 in any suitable manher at the rear of the drivers seat 25 is a hopper it having a hinge closure ll. This hopper it may contain a supply of abrasive which may be the usual cutting sand or other suitable abrasive material employed in blasting operations. In the particular instance air is to be used as the carrier stream for the sand particles, and to this end a compressor 58 is mounted on the chassis I2 at a convenient location such as between the gasoline tank and the hopper i i. The coin-- pressor [8 has a supply conduit is which is or" the usual flexible character and is controlled by a manual or otherwise operated valve device Thus, the volume of air flow through the conduit is may be manually adjusted to that desired for particular conditions encountered in cleaning the road surface. This supply conduit l9 and a plurality of flexible sand conduits 2! from the hopper I6 each extend to the sand blasting nozzle units designated generally 22. The nozzles 22 for convenience of illustration have tubular shank portions 23, each of which extends from a fitting designated 2 which may or may not be integral with the shank portion 23. The fittings 24 have a sand inlet 25 in the form of a short nipple to which may be connected the conduits 2 l. The fittings 2d are also provided with an air inlet conduit 28, each of which communicates with a common valve unit 27 which may be of a sleeve type rotatable to register simultaneously all of the conduits 26 with the air supply conduit [9. The valve is operated by means of a crank arm 26 attached to one end of the inner sleeve of the valve and may be spring biased, not shown, to be urged to the closed or off position thereof. The valve may be turned manually but preferably is turned to the on position by means of a hand-operated lever 29 which is pivotally attached intermediate the ends thereof to the sides of the chassis l2 adjacent to the seat 55 as at 3% whereby to be readily accessible to the operator when in the seated position. The lower ill of the lever 29 is connected by means of a flexible cable or the like 32 to the said crank 28. Thus, by manually swinging the lever 29 in a clockwise direction it will through the cable 32 turn the crank arm 23 to move the valve to the on position so as to register the conduits 25 with the conduit H as previously described. The sand supply conduits 2! are attached to the inlets 25 of the fittings 2G whereby sand from the hopper will be conveyed to each of the fittings 25* to be picked up by the air flowing therethrough. The action of the air under pressure flowing through the fittings 2 will in a usual well-known manner draw sand to mix with the air stream to be projected under ressure through the jet end 33 of the nozzles 22.

The nozzles 22 and the parts attached thereto are supported on a cradle 3 which has an axle 35 at one end portion thereof on which are mounted wheels St for free rotation thereon. The front end portion a? of the side frames of the cradle 35 converge toward each other and form spaced mounting eyes 38, a block 39 being positioned between the eyes 38 to maintain the same in the spaced relation. The cradle may be reinforced by a cross member fill positioned at the forward end thereof providing triangulation with the converging portions. There is mounted on the axle 35 a support member or bracket M which is free to turn on the axle 35 and is provided with a plurality of grooves 42, one for each nozzle 22. The shanks 23 of the nozzles 22 rest in said grooves 12, and a clamp bar a3 is secured to the bracket 1%! as by means of bolts to securely fix the nozzles to the said bracket :35. It will be understood that the nozzles 22 may be slidably moved in the said grooves 42 for adjusting the same by unloosening the bolts ea in a usual manner and then retightening the same. The bracket ll is adjustably secured in a desired angular position by means of straps G5 secured to the end of the bracket and to the adjacent sides of the cradle 34. Thus, the angularity of the nozzles 22 to the road surface may be adjusted to that desired by a combined turning of the bracket of the axle 35 and sliding of said nozzle on said bracket ll as previously described.

The cradle 3:2- is positioned at a location beneath the vehicle ii, to be substantially midway between the side frames of the chassis l2 and is pivotally secured to a post 46 which depends from the chassis l2 to engage between the eyes 38 in register therewith to receive a pivot fastening 41. Thus, the cradle is pulled along the roadway by the vehicle Ill, and the diameter of the wheels 38 determines the height at which the jet portion 33 of the nozzles 22 will be spaced from the road surface. The pivoting of this said cradle 31% will provide for the cradle to ride along any unevenness in road surfaces so as to maintain the nozzles 22 at the roper distance from the road surface.

It may be desirable to recover the spent sand and also the material removed from the road surface so that upon passing of the vehicle over the area .of the road surface cleansed, the same will be free of such sand and removed material. To this end a receptacle i8 is provided. This receptacle has an open front side till which is positioned to be just ahead of the nozzle jet The receptacle is mounted on the sides of the cradle as by means of pivoted links 53, best shown in Figure l, to be suspended therefrom in such a manner that its center of gravity will cause the receptacle to swing about its pivot in a clockwise direction so that its front side will engage the road surface and follow unevenness in road surface. The receptacle also provided with an opening 5i therethrough about which projects a short nipple to which is connected a return conduit 52 extending to the upper portion of the hopper 16 so that the spent material moved into the receptacle 33 will be moved upwardly through the conduit 52 to be deposited into the hopper it. When certain con ditions of oil. grease, and like deposits are such as to materially contaminate the sand supply should the same be returned thereto, then a separate collecting container, not shown, may be provided to which the conduit 52 may be attached.

It is also desirable for safety measures and also for confining the area being cleansed to provide a suitable shield, which in the instant disclosure is in the form of a bag or the like 53 which may be made of a canvas or other suitable material. The bag is closed at its upper end and suspended from the chassis 2 at a location to enclose the receptacle 68 and a portion of the jets 22, as best seen in Figure l, openings being provided in the sides of the shield 53 for the passage therethrough of the parts enclosed therein. The bottom and marginal portion of the bag is provided with a reinforcement 53 which may be of a heavy rubber or rubberized material whereby to weight the said shield 53 into engagement with the road surface.

The cradle is held in raised position when the vehicle is traveling from one area to another and is lowered at the area to cleaned by means of a hand-operated lever 55? which is similar to the lever 29 and is pivoted as at 56 providing a lower arm portion El, the end of which is connected by means of a cable or the like fill to a crank 58 on a shaft 59 journaled in the sides of the chassis l2. Swinging the lever 55 in a clockwis direction will rock the shaft 59. The shaft is provided with crank arms all which are positioned directly above the sides of the cradle and connected thereto as by means of flexible cables 2. Thus, it will be seen that by swi ging the lever motion will be transmitted through the connection just described to raise the arms 5! and the cradle from the road surface and therewith the parts of the apparatus attached thereto, the weight of the cradle being sufilcient to bias the same into engagement with the road surface when the lever 55 is moved in the other direction. The present form of the invention is illustrated as being combined with a self-propelled vehicle. However, the same may take the form of a trailer-like vehicle to be attached to a self-propelled vehicle to be moved over the area to be cleansed. In other instances it may be found desirable to the apparatus of a construction such that the cleansing nozzle may be manually moved over the area to be cleansed.

It will now be apparent that we have disclosed a method and an apparatus which will operate for the efiicient removal of oil, grease, and like deposits which may be inibedded into the road surface.

We claim:

1. An apparatus for cleaning a road surface of oil, grease, and the like deposits thereon, com prising a wheeled vehicle, a cradle having one end portion thereof attached to said vehicle and the other end thereof adapted to engage a road surface to be moved. thereaiong as drawn said vehicle, a plurality of sand blasting nozzles adjustably mounted on said cradle to project therefrom at an angle to the road surface to direct a stream of abrasive under pressure against the said road surface to be cleaned.

2. An apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein said cradle is at a position centrally of the ve hicle and beneath the same.

3. An apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein said cradle is provided with wheels for engaging the road surface.

l. An apparatus as set forth in claim 1 further comprising a shield surrounding said nozzles.

5. An apparatus as set forth in claim 1 further comprising means for raising said cradle from the road surface including a manually operated lever, and means connecting said lever to cradle whereupon the swinging of said lever in one direction will raise said cradle from the road surface.

6. An apparatus as in claim 1 further comprising an open side receptacle positioned to be in front of said nozzle, and an outlet conduit from said receptacle whereby spent abrasive and matter dislodged from said road surface will be blown by said sand blasting stream into said receptacle and out through said conduit.

"I. An apparatus for cleaning a road surface of oil, grease, and the like deposited thereon comprising a self-propelled motor vehicle having a chassis, a cradle having one end portion thereof pirotaily mounted on said vehicle to be at a location beneath the chassis of said vehicle, the other end of said cradle being adapted to engage the surface, means for raising said other end of the cradle froin the road surface including a rockaTole shaft at a location above said cradle, flexible means connecti said shaft to said cradle whereupon rocking of said shaft in one direction ll through flexible means raise said. cradle fcm the road surface, a plurality of sand blasting nozzles adjustably mounted on said cradle for directing a stream of abrasive on to the road surface to be cleaned, hopper mounted on said vehic e for containing a supply of abrasive for said nozzle, and means carried by said vehicle for supplying a stream of fluid under pressure to said nozzle.

8. An apparatus as in claim 7 further comprising a valve for controlling the said nozzles and means including a manually operated lever for operating said valve.

r apparatus for cleanin a road surface of oil, grease, and the like deposits thereon, comprising a wheeled vehicle, a cradle having one end portion thereof attached to said vehicle and the other end thereof adapted to engage a road surface to be moved therealong as drawn by said vehicle, a sand blasting nozzle adj ustably mounted on said cradle to project therefrom at an angle to the road surface to direct a stream of abrasive under pressure against the said road surface to be cleaned.

References Eited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 847,270 Wise Mar. 12, 1907 2,015,875 Sloan Oct. 1, 1935 2,665,596 Uhri Aug. 5, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 487,532 Great Britain June 22, 1938 

